I find myself, to say the least a bit disappointed. Over 150 people read the first chapter, but not one review. I am not going to sit here and beg for reviews, that is not my style. However I do like to get feedback on my stories like anyone else, so please take the time to post a review after you have read the chapter.
So here is the second chapter. I promise you that our heroes will be making an appearance in the next chapter, however these two chapters are very important to how the the rest of this story goes. So here you are. Chapter 2 of the Forsaken.
2
Strike First, consequences be damned.
Minerva McGonagall stared at the list in front of her thinking to herself this can't be right. However as much as she wanted to tell herself the list was wrong, she already knew it wasn't. For her the question was what was happening that students would decline their invitation to attend Hogwarts. Hogwarts was considered one of the finest schools in the wizarding world, however more the fifty students, more than half being new first years either had declined to attend Hogwarts. The other half was students of the other years.
Granted since the end of the second war, wizarding world attendance from many wizarding families had been increasing; however of the muggleborn students many had chosen not to return to school after the second war. Minerva could understand the reasons behind this. The muggleborns that had been forced out of the school and the schools registry being used by the ministry to track them down. However too many of the Muggleborn first years had been declining the invitation to attend Hogwarts. This deeply concerned Minerva. She knew there were still fanatics out there, but the question was, were the muggleborns not coming to Hogwarts because they were being threatened.
It was the thought that the muggleborn students were being intimidated into not coming to school that bothered Minerva. She also noticed that the half blood and purebloods that were not accepting their places at Hogwarts were from some of the poorer families in the wizarding community. Could they be being threatened as well? Minerva decided that she would have to visit some of the families to get to the bottom of this.
"Headmistress," The woman answering the door seemed surprised; however she did stand aside and invited the headmistress in. As Minerva stepped into the home she saw that it was a typical muggle house. She was here to see Beth Ormond, mother to a third year muggleborn that had declined to return to Hogwarts. She had decided to visit this family because she had met the parents on a couple of occasions. Their daughter Priscilla had trouble adjusting to Hogwarts her first year, and Minerva had taken the time to help her adjust. In doing so she not only had gotten to know Priscilla but her mother as well. Once Priscilla had adapted to Hogwarts she had done quite well, getting top grades in all her subjects. This is why Minerva had been so surprised to find she had chosen not to return for her fourth year.
Beth studied Minerva for a few minutes as the two women took seats in the living room. Beth finally broke the silence.
"I know why you are here Headmistress." She stated.
Minerva decided to come straight to the point.
"I was quite surprised to learn that Priscilla will not be returning to Hogwarts for her fourth year."
Beth looked away from Minerva, but did not respond to her statement.
"Priscilla has been doing very well and is one of the top students in her year. Of course I am sure that you are aware of this." Minerva stated
"I know that Priscilla has been doing well at Hogwarts," Beth answered, "That is why taking her out of Hogwarts has been such a tough decision."
"Perhaps if I knew why Priscilla was being withdrawn…" Minerva answered.
Once again Beth looked away. Minerva did not say anything; she just waited for Beth to continue.
"Times have been hard for my family Headmistress." Beth answered, "I had to take a pay cut at work, and we just cannot afford the tuition at Hogwarts at this time."
Minerva sighed,
"We do have ways of helping gifted students that cannot afford their tuition." Minerva answered.
Beth nodded her head.
"I would be certainly willing to assist in getting Beth the financial aide she would need to continue her education at Hogwarts."
Beth studied Minerva for a few minutes.
"Priscilla is a talented witch, and she should continue her magical education." Minerva pushed, seeing the woman hesitating.
"Well the thing of it is. Priscilla has been offered a full Scholarship at an alternative school."
"I understand there are many fine Muggles schools Beth, but none of those schools will continue her magical education." Minerva answered.
Beth smiled.
"You see this is a special school for gifted students," Beth explained, "They will continue with Beth's magical education as well as focusing more on preparing Priscilla to be successful in both the muggle and magical world."
Minerva looked at Beth, surprised. What did she mean this school would continue her magical education in addition to her muggle education? As far as Minerva knew, Hogwarts was the only magical school in Britain.
"If I might ask," Minerva continued, "What is the name of this school."
Beth just shook her head. "I am sure you will understand when I tell you I cannot tell you that. Just like Hogwarts, this school is being kept a secret, I can tell you though, and it is considered one of the finest private schools in England."
"Well, I guess I will wish Priscilla well, and take my leave." Minerva answered.
Minerva visited a total of ten families whose children had either declined the invitation to attend Hogwarts, or were withdrawing from Hogwarts. It turned out many of those students were attending the same school that Priscilla was. Many of the muggleborn families cited the schools not only giving a magical education but a muggle one as well as their reason for switching schools. The poorer families of all the groups, muggleborn, halfblood and pureblood had apparently all been given full scholarships to this school.
After checking with the ministry she learned that there was no other magical school in England as far as the ministry was concerned. Upon finding this out Minerva wrote a letter to the dept of magical education advising them of what she had found. Minerva was sure this was something the ministry would want to look into right away.
"What makes you think this is the Ministry of Magic?" Will Bannon asked abruptly.
Elric just looked at Bannon and answered coolly.
"Because there is no reason for an Ofsted inspection at this time, We just had one last year and there were no problems found." Ofsted or the Office for Standards in Education was responsible for monitoring and inspecting the private schools in England.
The Bannon School had past its last inspection with flying colors. Elric and Will Bannon had founded the Bannon School only a year after Bannon had joined small community of Withes and Wizards that had been asked to leave the wizarding world by Fudge's ministry.
The Forsaken, as they had started to call themselves consisted mainly of those that had been banished from magical society. Smyth was not sure how, but like the immigrant communities of the Italians and Irish in cities like London, New York and Chicago, those abandoned by the magical community found each other and formed their own community.
One of the things that bound them was not the fact that they had been forced out of the magical community, but the fact the most learned they were still able to perform magic without wands. Smyth theorized that once you learned to do magic, you would not lose that ability. It had taken a bit of time but the Forsaken had learned to perform Wandless magic.
Will Bannon and Elric Smyth had formed The Bannon school to help those that had been banished to continue their magical education. In addition the school started out teaching those new to the muggle world how to survive in the muggle world. From learning to use Muggle technology, to training in Muggle jobs so that they could earn a living.
Over the years, more and more people had been forced out of the Magical community. The Forsaken's numbers grew at a steady pace. Whether you were forced out on trumped up criminal charges, charges that could not be proven or as in Bannon's case you would be welcomed into the community of the Forsaken.
Many of the Forsaken still harbored ill will to the community that had so carelessly tossed them aside. Many of those had watched as the second wizarding war unfolded, secretly hoping that Voldemort would bring down the ministry as well as the society that had turned their backs on them. However as the second war progressed, many of the muggleborns that were being hunted down by Voldemort joined the ranks of the Forsaken. As word spread about Voldemort, the Forsaken had decided the old ministry would be much better than one ruled by Voldemort. This had become apparent when the town of Defluo had been attacked by snatchers. They were after the muggleborns that had sought refuge in Defluo. The attack had been repelled, but it was an eye opener for the Forsaken could lose all they had gained over the years.
The Forsaken had gained quite a bit over the years. They had a thriving community, but the pride of Defluo was the Bannon School. The school grew far beyond being just a school for exiled witches and wizards. The school had also become considered one of the finest private schools in England. Children of some of the best families in England attended the Muggle School. Smyth had formed the Muggle School as a way to fund the magical school. There were two separate schools. The first taught Primary Schools to both muggles and magical people. Once the students reached the age of eleven they were sent to the secondary school. The secondary school taught muggles, and the School for Gifted Children taught magical children. The magical students were, as the school did earlier in its history, taught both the ways of magic as well as getting along in the muggle world.
Magical students that finished the secondary school were well equipped, should they want to, to join the magical community as long as they were not related to those kicked out of that community.
In addition to being the pride of the town of Defluo, the Bannon School became the driving force of the economy in Defluo. Many businesses ran by the Forsaken served the School in one way or another. From supplying the school with basic supplies, to providing entertainment for the three thousand students that attended the school. That was why in addition to Will Bannon, Maxwell Edison and a few other leaders of the Forsaken community were attending the afternoons meeting regarding the surprise inspection of the school by Ofsted. Smyth had too many dealings with the Ministry of Magic in the past to not realize the inspection was just the cover story the Ministry was giving to see the school.
The main question that was bothering Smyth was, why all of a sudden would the Ministry of Magic take an interest in The Bannon School. Granted, seeing the number of Wizarding children being denied an education under Voldemort reign had led to the school actively recruiting magical students. Something the school had never done before. The school recruited those that Hogwarts seemed to ignore, students from poorer muggle families that were not comfortable with their children not being taught about their muggle heritage, to poor wizarding families that just simply could not afford to attend Hogwarts.
The aggressive recruiting of magical students was the brainchild of Maxwell Edison who was actively recruiting those students into The Forsaken. Smyth had to admit under Edison's plans the number of those in the ranks of the Forsaken had risen. Not only were the students joining, but their families as well. England now had a thriving second magical community independent of the ministry of magic.
The community had never drawn the attention of the ministry. The wandless magic performed by the Forsaken was not detectable by the ministry, as the ministry relied on wands to detect magical signatures. If you cast a spell with no wand, there was no signature to be traced. So the magical community that had abandoned the residents of Defluo remained unaware of them. This was something that The Forsaken had decided would be a good idea. No one knew what the ministry would do if they learned those they had thought they had denied magic too were still able to practice magic. No one wanted to risk finding out what the ministry would do.
So Elric had been surprised when he received a letter announcing a surprise inspection by Ofsted. Elric had many several contacts within the Independent Schools Council and learned from those contacts no inspection of The Bannon School had been ordered. This meant only one thing, The Ministry of Magic was suddenly interested in their school.
"The question is," Maxwell Edison stated, "Is why the Ministry would be taking an interest in the school now?"
"I have no idea." Smyth answered.
"I do." Edison answered. He however did not share his thinking with the others in the room. Finally Smyth asked him to explain what he was thinking.
"The ministry just went through a devastating war with Voldemort. The ministry is afraid we will become another challenge to them. They want to clean house before that happens."
"You're kidding?" Bannon Scoffed as Edison finished his statement. "The ministry has forgotten about us, and those that remember us do not want us to be found."
"Exactly my point." Edison stated, "The Ministry says it is in the process of reforming. We would be an embarrassment to those reforms, so they want us eliminated."
Before Bannon could say anything, Smyth intervened. There had been no love lost between Bannon and Edison and he was not interested in listening to the two of them fighting again.
"Max," Smyth said patiently, "We have no idea what this about and I suggest we wait and see what the representative from the ministry has to say before we jump to any conclusions."
William Devin sat looking back at his day, while waiting for his dinner guests to arrive. Devine wondered how a day that started out with so much promise had suddenly turned into such a bad day. Well really it was the day's surprises that had turned a good day to a really bad one. To be honest, Devin had not had many good days since Shacklebolt had taken over the ministry. He was one of the few senior ministry employees to actually move up when Shacklebolt had taken over.
Devin had been the Assistant Director of the Department of Magical Law for the last two years, having been promoted to the spot when his boss had been convicted of being a death eater. Devin was a typical minister bureaucrat from the Fudge days. He did just enough to keep his bosses happy, but not enough to land himself in hot water. Devin liked the power that came with being a high ranking official. However Devin's problem was Hermione Granger, his counterpart that had been appointed Assistant Director last year. Hermione Granger was going to be the death of him. Actually, Devin thought, she was probably going to replace their boss. Knowing this Devin made sure to keep some of his old contacts happy. This included the former minister of magic Cornelius Fudge.
When you think about, Fudge had not asked him to do a lot. Just to watch to see if a few names came across his desk, and if the names he had been asked about came across his desk to personally investigate the allegations and report back to Fudge. So after the last two years of watching for those names, and none turning up Devin figured the names would never come up. That was until this morning.
Devin was surprised to see the Education minister waiting for him as he arrived at his office. As he invited the Education Minister into his office, he wondered what this was about. The Education Ministry had its own law department, so they would not normally need the help of the Magical Law Dept.
"So what do I owe the pleasure of you visit this morning Bart?" Devin motioned Bart Daniels to have a seat.
Bart handed Devin a file as he made himself comfortable.
"I am not sure if this is even a problem." Bart answered, "Headmistress Mcgonagall contacted our department last week regarding some disturbing trends in enrollment at Hogwarts."
Bart sighed as he explained about the Muggleborn and poorer Pureblood and half blood students that had declined to attend Hogwarts. He also explained how the Headmistress had learned they were attending another school. The minister explained they had looked into this school, and learned that the school did in fact exist, however the school was registered with Independent Schools Council and considered one of the finer private schools in England. The reason Bart needed to see Devin was it was suspected the school was also teaching magic to the magical children attending without ministry oversight. However since the school was legally registered as a muggle school, did the Department of Education have the authority to shut the school down, if in fact it was teaching magic?
Devin picked up the file on The Bannon School and felt his heart stop when he the names of who was running the school. Elric Smyth and Will Bannon were two of the names that Fudge had asked him to look out for. After Bart left, Devin had his secretary bring him the files on both Smyth and Bannon. Fudge had told him he was leaving the files of those that the ministry had banished with him for safe keeping. Devin was to keep an eye out and if any of those Wizards and Witches names came up he was to contact fudge immediately.
Devin knew that there were those still in Magical Law Enforcement that used Banishment as a tool to weed out the "bad apples" in the magical community. In most cases Banishment was used when the dept of magical law determined they could not make a case against those "bad apples," but still wanted to do something about them. Banishment technically was not legal and violated the rights of the accused. In most cases those up for banishment were bullied into taking a "deal" to stay out of Azkaban or to avoid other consequences. Devin was the one that his associates would bring candidates for banishment. His counterpart Hermoine Granger was not one to dirty her hands with something that was questionable at the least and more than likely just plain against the law.
Staring at the file in front of him was for the first time two wizards that had been banished coming up in an official ministry investigation. He needed to make sure that this could not come back and bite not just him in the ass, but his longtime friend Cornelius Fudge as well. If Granger ever got wind of the practice not only would she stop it, but more than likely would prosecute those involved in the violation of the rights of those fine witches and wizards.
After reviewing the files, Devin advised Bart that this was something he would handle personally considering the involvement of the muggle government with The Bannon School.
That afternoon found Devin sitting in Elric Smyth's office, along with Will Bannon and a third man that he did not recognize, Maxwell Edison. Devin had used the cover of an Ofsted inspection to get in to see the school. As far as he could tell, his cover had not been blown.
"Mr. Devin," Smyth started the meeting, "I have to admit to being a little confused. We just had an Ofsted inspection, and as far as I know there were no problems indicated in the report that the school received."
Smyth handed Devin a thick folder, with a report on the said Ofsted inspection.
Damn, Devin thought to himself, he had not checked with the muggles to see when the last visit from the Independent School councils had been. Devin bought himself some time to come up with a cover story by pretending to look at the paperwork he had been handed. He was here to determine if in fact the school was teaching magic, which would be a clear violation of the Statute of Secrecy. Devin decided to answer with a half truth.
"I am here regarding your school for gifted children."
Devin could see that neither Smyth, nor Bannon were surprised by his answer. Devin did not elaborate any further. He wanted to see how the two men reacted to his statement.
"I think you will find everything is in order for the school for gifted children, if you read the Ofsted report from our last inspection." Smyth answered coolly.
Devin was again caught off guard. He should have read the report before coming out to see inspect the school. However he felt it was important he confirm that the two men running the school were in fact the two former wizards in his file. Of that he now had no doubt.
"Why don't you cut the bullshit Devin?" Smyth said sharply, "We know who you are and why you are here today."
Devin tried to feign ignorance. "Mr. Smyth," he answered cautiously, "What exactly are you implying?"
"We know you are with the Ministry of Magic," Bannon answered this time, he addressed Smyth with his next statement, "Typical ministry," To Devin's surprise Bannon suddenly grabbed his hand and said menacingly. "I would keep my hands away from my wand if I were you."
As Bannon was speaking, Devin had started to reach for his wand. He planned on obliviating the two men since they had spotted him as a Wizard. Devin stopped reaching for his wand right away, looking at the two men nervously.
"My question is," Smyth sounding much like a father addressing a petulant teenager, "Why is the ministry suddenly interested in a muggle school?"
Devin glared at Smyth, not believing the man's gall. He knew damn well why he was here. Devin decided to stop playing games, since the two men clearly knew he was with the ministry.
"We have no interest in muggle schools."
"Then why are you here?" Smyth pushed.
"Give me a break Smyth, you know damn well why I am here," Devin fought to control his temper, "You are teaching magic."
Smyth just looked at Devin for a few minutes, then stated calmly.
"Prove it."
Devin knew he could not. He checked with MLE and there had been no reports of underage magic in the area. That he found to be a bit off, after all by his best account there was potentially a thousand or more students attending the Bannon School, and even if only a quarter of those students were magical they would leave some trace of magic. Actually, Devin had found no traces of magic use at all. Devin just glared at Smyth but did not say anything.
"Well since you have no evidence we are teaching magic, the ministry has no jurisdiction here."
"If the Statute of secre…"
Smyth interrupted him.
"This is not a magical community as far as your ministry is concerned. We have all given up our magic at the insistence of your ministry." Devin did his best to hide his surprise at Smyth's statement, while asking himself what he meant by we.
Smyth continued has rant.
"Even if we were performing magic, since you have kicked us out of the Magical world, your laws no longer apply to us so I suggest you report back to your ministry, and advise them never to send anyone to bother us again."
Devin did not waste time leaving the Bannon School. Several things that Smyth had said led him to believe he should not push things while he was alone. He would consult with Cornelius before deciding on his next move. He had only suspected the Bannon School was teaching magic, now he knew it, and from what Smyth stated, there may be a bit more happening at the Bannon School than just the teaching of unauthorized magic.
As Devin finished filling Fudge in on his visit to the Bannon School he could see that Fudge was a bit nervous. Devin wanted to return to the school with several Auror's and put that arrogant son of a bitch Smyth in his place. In all his years in the ministry no one had ever thrown him out of a meeting. He represented the ministry; people were intimidated by him, not the other way around.
Devin knew that Fudge was worried about what he was going to do next. Deep down Devin knew that even if he wanted to show up at the Bannon School with an army of Aurors, he couldn't. Too many questions would be asked. Too many people could end up in hot water if too many questions were asked. Devin sighed; he really did want to wipe the smug look Smyth had given him as he was leaving off his face.
After a few minutes of silence, Fudge finally spoke.
"To say that this poses a bit of a problem is an understatement."
Devin looked at Fudge with an expression that clearly said "No Duh," however he answered Fudge rather tersely "You think?"
Fudge ignored Devin's terse tone and continued.
"You are sure that this is Smyth and Bannon?"
"Yes. If I wasn't before, I was after I was told I had no authority with Smyth's community."
As Devin finished his statement, Fudge looked concerned and asked
"What did he mean by community?"
Devin had thought about that statement quite a bit and came to the conclusion if The Bannon School was teaching magic, then they would have to have teachers. His conclusion was that there may be several witches and wizards at that school, as well as the magical students. Devin thought that Smyth was referring to the school and let Fudge know as much.
Fudge nodded in agreement.
"However, that does not solve our problem." Fudge stated, "We cannot afford to have Smyth and Bannon just reappear. It would raise too many questions." Fudge paused, "We also need to do something about the school without getting the ministry involved."
Devin started to shift in his seat uncomfortably, he was not sure he liked where Fudge was going.
"I know just the people to handle this for us." Fudge stated more to himself than Devin. Devin was sure of one thing he did not want to know what Fudge was planning. Whatever it was, it would not be good for Smyth, Bannon or the Bannon School.
Gregor Bukovic smiled menacingly at the woman and her young daughter, the older woman was very pretty despite being close to her mid forties. The daughter was stunning. Looking at the two woman cowering before him and his two companions he thought to himself, this might not be a bad job after all.
Bukovic rarely got any pleasure from his work. Sure there was the fear in the eyes of his victims. You see Bukovic and his team were problem solvers, which was just a fancy way of saying they were paid assassins. This job was a bit larger than he and his team normally would take on, but the owed Fudge for helping them get new identities after Voldemort had been defeated. You see in a previous lifetime Bukovic and his team were death eaters.
They had not joined Voldemort's cause for any idea of so called blood purity. They joined his cause because the liked inflicting pain on the weak. Lord Voldemort needed people that could do just that to strike fear into those that might oppose him. Bukovic and his team were a perfect fit.
Since Voldemort's fall a mutual acquaintance had put Bukovic and Fudge together. Bukovic owed Lucius Malfoy for the hook up. Using his connections with the Ministry Fudge had been able to provide him and his associates with new identities and the ability to just disappear in the confusion that came with the end of the second war.
Bukovic had been surprised when Malfoy had contacted him, and filled him in on Fudge's little problem. Fudge, through Malfoy hired Bukovic and his team to solve the problem with the caveat that the deaths of Bannon and Smyth look like the work of a home invasion committed by the same gang. It had been made clear that they wanted the attacks on the families to be brutal, Fudge was not concerned with what happened to the families, just that Smyth and Bannon were killed.
In addition to killing the Smyth's and Bannon, Fudge also wanted the Bannon School burned to the ground. Bukovic and his crew never asked why Fudge wanted the school destroyed. They named their price, received their money and went on their merry way.
Upon seeing Smyth's daughter, Bukovic decided that before killing Smyth, they would have a bit of fun. Then not only would they kill Smyth, but his family as well. Once they finished with Smyth they would move on to the Bannon's. The other three men on his team would be sent to the school and take care of that part of the job. Once again the fact that there were children at the school did not bother Bukivic. The way he figured it if the town was desperately trying to save the kids from the fire, they would have an easier time of escaping. Yes, Bukovic thought to himself, this was going to be a glorious night.
Elric was tired. It had been a long day. Since that idiot from the ministry had shown up a week ago, he and Maxwell Edison had been at odds. Edison wanted to do something to prevent the ministry of magic from trying to shut down the school. Smythe had asked Edison what he had in mind. Edison wanted to kill Devin, to prevent him from reporting what he had found to his superiors. Both he and Bannon were opposed to any direct action against the ministry. They pointed out to Edison that killing Devin would probably lead to the Aurors visiting the school as they investigated what Devin had been working on.
Over the last week Edison continued to push for killing Devin. Today was no different. However Smyth thought he had silenced Edison by stating that by now, any reports that Devin would have to file would have been filed already, so killing him would be a moot point at best. Edison was not happy about this, but he agreed with Smyth's logic.
As Smyth was walking towards his back door he saw his wife and daughter talking to some men he had never seen before. Even from this distance, Smyth could tell the two woman were frightened. Something was not right. After sending a message to Bannon, Smyth decided to take a direct approach.
"Ahh Mr. Smyth so good of you to join us." Bukovic gave Smyth the most menacing look he good as he stepped through his back door. Bukovic was disappointed to see that Smyth did not appear to be surprised. As a matter of fact Smyth appeared to be quite calm, not the panicked husband and father he was hoping for.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" Smyth demanded curtly.
Bukovic glared at Smyth before answering.
"Well since you are going to be dead in a few minutes my name is not important. But I have decided before you die, you can watch as me and my friends party with your lovely wife and daughter."
As Bukovic said this he grabbed Smyth's wife and ran his hands over her breast. Again Bukovic was disappointed at the lack of reaction to what he had done to Elric's wife. Most men would have gone insane, but Smyth remained calm.
"Well, if me and my family are going to be dead in just a few minutes, it will not matter if you tell me who you are will it?"
Bukovic did not like this at all. This prick was just way to calm.
"My name is Bukovic, and these are my associates."
"I wish I could say I was pleased to meet you Sir," Smyth answered. His heart was pounding and his mind was racing a mile a minute, but outwardly Smyth maintained his calm demeanor. He could tell this was making Bukovic uneasy. He wanted this, but he did not want them to be on too much of an edge either. He would only get one chance.
"So tell me Mr. Bukovic, what business do you and your associates have with me and my family?" Smyth moved a little closer to the man he was talking to as he spoke. He would take out Bukovic first, then the other two.
Bukovic smiled. "I think first we will have a bit of fun with your wife and daughter, I hope you do enjoy a good show. After we have finished we of course will have to kill all of you. After that we are going to pay a visit to your friend Bannon."
Smyth was surprised to hear that Bannon was to be killed too. He also found himself wondering how these men knew who he and Bannon were. He needed some more information so he said calmly.
"Sounds like you are going to have a busy night then." Smyth stated sardonically.
Bukovic laughed.
"You don't know the half of it. We are so busy tonight I had to split my guys up, with killing you and Bannon and taking care of that school of yours…"
Smyth had heard enough. Taking advantage of the fact that Bukovic thought he had the upper hand he quickly made several hand motions while quickly casting three spells.
The first spell simply turned Bukovic's associates into stone statues. This was not the same as the body binding curse as that just paralyzed the victim. This spell literally turned the two men into stone statues. The other curse he paralyzed Bukovic from the neck down. The minute he was paralyzed Bukkovic started to scream. Smyth quickly silenced him with a simple silencing spell.
Smyth then immediately called Bannon, he told him to get someone over to the school right away and why.
Once he finished the call he looked at Bukovic.
"I have some questions for you Mr. Bukovic, How you answer them will determine how much pain you will suffer before you die…
"Not only were these men going to kill you and Smyth, they were going to torch the school as well!" Maxwell Edison shouted at Will.
Bannon just looked at Edison coolly, then stated, "I am not going to go to war with the Ministry of Magic."
Edison had been pushing for striking back at the ministry once he heard about the attacks on Smyth and the school the previous night. Though he stated the reason he wanted to strike back at the ministry was because of the previous nights attacks, everyone in the room knew that Edison had been looking to get revenge for being kicked out of the magical world for years. Bannon knew that last nights events were just a good excuse.
"The ministry is already at war with us." Edison responded hotly, "They made the first move last night and they will not stop unless we do something to stop them."
Bannon sighed. He knew Edison had a point, the Ministry showed up at the school then a few days later they tired to have the leaders of the school killed and the school burned down.
"Look Will, I know you don't like violence," Edison stated a bit calmer, "However let's look at the facts. The Ministry shows up at the school and then two days later they try and kill the leaders of the school and burn the school down. The ministry wants us eliminated. We have to do something."
Bannon looked at Smyth; he could see that Elric was considering what Edison was saying.
"You're not considering this, are you Elric?" He asked shocked.
Elric looked at Will, and he could still see the anger over last night's events smoldering in his eyes.
"You might feel different if it was your wife and daughter that was going to raped and then killed." Smyth said coldly. He then looked at Edison, "I want a measured response only. We both know who was the one who sent those men. We can start with him." Smyth gave Edison a cold stare before continuing, "William Devin is just a pawn. Before you kill him find out who gave the orders to attack us…"
Edison just nodded and left the room
Bannon looked at his friend of many years sadly and said "I hope you know what you are doing Elric."
Devin sighed heavily as he sat down in his living room. It had been a long day. Hell why lie to himself, it had been another bad day. Devin pounded the arm of his chair, as the thought about what had happened earlier that day. He had no idea why that mudblood was considered such a star, but she was.
The source of Devin's frustration grew out of a meeting that afternoon with the head of the department of magical law. It seemed that they were reorganizing the department. He vaguely remembered being asked to submit his ideas on restructuring the department. He had submitted some half hearted ideas that would not have lead to any meaningful changes.
The bitch Granger it seemed had submitted a far more ambitious plan. The thing was the
Minister of Magic and their boss liked her plan and were implementing it. His boss in his infinite wisdom as a reward for the mudbloods fine work was making Granger the head of the Criminal division, as well as the legislative branch as well. Devin was being put in charge of the administrative division. In effect he was being demoted to nothing more than a paper pusher, while the choice divisions were being handed over to a mudblood. Devin closed his eyes and tried to relax and started to fall asleep.
A sudden loud crack startled Devin out of his near sleep. Looking around Devin shot out of his chair, drawing his wand as he stood. Before he could bring his wand to bear on the intruder, he was disarmed, his wand flying out of his hand. Devin could not recall ever seeing someone draw a wand as fast as this man had.
Devin looked at the man, thinking to himself he had seen him somewhere recently. He just could not place where.
"Who the hell are you?" Devin asked angrily.
The man waved his hand and Devin found himself forced back into his chair by an invisible force. Devin was shocked to see that whatever the man had done he had not used a wand to this.
"Who I am is not important." The man answered, "What is important is what you can tell me about the attack on Elric Smyth and the Bannon School earlier this week."
Devin just looked the man. He must be an Auror, he thought to himself. But how had the Aurors gotten involved in the attack, Devin wondered. Fudge had informed him something had gone wrong with the attack. Of the six men that had gone to kill Smyth and destroy the school, only Bukovic's body had turned up. Fudge would only tell him that Bukovic's body was in an indescribable condition.
"I have no idea what you are on about." Devin answered. As he answered Devin recognized the man as one of the three that were in Smyth's office the day he visited the Bannon school.
"Oh, I think you know exactly what I am talking about," answered the man, "and I think before the end of the night you will be begging to tell me everything you know…
For what seemed like hours, the man put Devin through pain that made the cruciatus curse look like child's play. After what seemed like days, Devin finally told him about his meeting with Fudge, and hiring the men to attack the school and kill Smyth and Bannon through Lucius Malfoy.
Then the pain finally stopped for a few minutes… The man then whispered an incantation and Devin felt like his whole body was on fire, the burning sensation was even worse than the torture he endured earlier. It took what seemed like several more hours for William Devin to finally succumb to death…